For the CHANEL Spring-Summer 2017 Ready-to-Wear collection, Karl Lagerfeld devised a world devoted to the theme of “intimate technology”. The accompanying line of handbags and accessories combines technology with leather craftsmanship to exalt the very essence of femininity.

Symbolised by robots, LED lights and computer keyboards, the futuristic details and allusions blend with the classic codes of CHANEL. Cables and wires in primary colours or silvery tones alternate with the timeless shades of black, white, beige and nude.

Introducing the BOY CHANEL handbag 2.0. Framed by electric blue lambskin, its body in transparent PVC appears to be covered with cables thanks to the weaving of multi-coloured plastic threads. Its shoulder strap is a new metal chain with iridescent reflections combined with woven leather. In perforated leather or embroidered by Lesage, the BOY CHANEL handbag lights up with LEDs, or diffuses messages from the CHANEL vocabulary. We also find this technological flourishing over maxi-clutches in perforated black, white or silver leather.

The touch fastener that replaced buttons on jackets in the collection is used here to encircle the supple clutches in woven tweed that match looks from the runway show. Also available in smooth leather with a quilted flap, they combine tweed and lambskin in different colourways. Each one bears a metal plate as a clasp. This very urban line features other clutches in black, nude, red, blue, silver, pine green and dark purple ultra-soft lambskin leathers, which can be clasped and gathered thanks to a sliding tie hidden inside the lining. This casual way of carrying it perfectly illustrates the spirit of a woman on the move who nonchalantly throws her jacket over a delicate little slip.

Karl Lagerfeld loves to play with codes. That’s why he’s devised a clutch bag in the shape of a computer keyboard complete with embossed keys in black or silver leather. Lined with nylon, fastened by a zip with a robot charm, it is hand held thanks to a leather handle. Finally a small robot is transformed into a precious minaudière: its body, in hand polished lacquered resin, is embellished with a printed circuit and covered with beads, sequins and rhinestone. This accessory is made according to a meticulous technique: engraved first of all, each motif is then covered with a silvery paste with any surplus smoothed away before affixing the rhinestones by hand.

CHANEL’s GABRIELLE bag completes this set of accessories. Its structure plays on the contrast between a rigid thermoformed base in smooth leather and an ultra-supple body in quilted aged calfskin. Its adjustable shoulder strap is accompanied by a double chain in gold and silver metal woven through with leather. An original detail that allows for three different ways of wearing it: either over the shoulder or across the body, or both at the same time with the chain going over one shoulder and then diagonally over the other. Crafted from aged calfskin, in black or white unicolour or bicolour, the CHANEL’s GABRIELLE bag exists in a hobo version, a backpack, a shopping bag and a supple purse contained in a rigid half-case.

Discover the CHANEL Spring-Summer 2017 Ready-to-Wear collection in boutiques from March 2017.